Flexenable

FlexEnable Ltd is a technology provider that develops flexible organic electronics. The company launched in 2015, and is located on the Cambridge Science Park, just north of Cambridge city centre.

Contents

• Flexenable s flexible display
• Flexenable demos organic lcd flexible oled rollable oled
• Technology
• References

In February 2015, Plastic Logic announced that the technology development and manufacturing parts of its enterprise would split into two independent companies [1]. FlexEnable became the technology provider, working to drive innovation across flexible video-rate displays, flexible sensors and smart systems.

A week after this separation was made public, FlexEnable and Merck, a provider of liquid crystals and organic electronic materials, unveiled the first organic LCD (OLCD)[2]. Layering organic transistors on a plastic sheet instead of a glass substrate, this technology allows the development of thinner, lighter, shatterproof and low-cost displays. FlexEnable’s organic thin film transistor (OTFT) technology was combined with liquid crystal (LC) and organic semiconductor materials from Merck to create the OLCD demonstrator.

In June 2015, FlexEnable announced a partnership with Taiwanese display panel maker Chunghwa Picture Tube (CPT) to develop a process for the manufacture a fully flexible, full-colour, glass-free active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) display. This new display, which combines FlexEnable’s manufacturing method and CPT’s RBG (Red, Green and Blue) OLED technology, is 125 microns thick and operates at the full video rate of 60 Hz [3].

In September 2015 FlexEnable revealed the first conformed LCD in an integrated automotive application, with partner Flex. The demonstration showed how LCD (the most established display technology), can be applied to glass-free, ergonomically shaped displays in cars without incurring the cost and stability issues of flexible OLED [4].

In October 2015, FlexEnable completed work on a government project sponsored by Innovate UK to develop organic semiconductors [5]. They used their industrial process for making flexible electronics in the construction of a proof of concept organic LCD display for the Printable Organic Semiconductors for Highly Enhanced Displays Project (PORSCHED). They also collaborated with another tech company Flexink, as well as Imperial College London and Cambridge University, on the project.

In January 2016, ISORG, a French developer of organic photodetectors, worked with FlexEnable to fabricate a large-area flexible fingerprint sensor, based on plastic [6]. The companies claimed that the breakthrough has been designed for biometric applications, with the technology being able to measure fingerprints as well as veins.

In February 2016, FlexEnable revealed a wrist-worn, conformable OLCD for wearable applications that is based on the company’s flexible electronics platform [7].